Metahuman & Me
by Sylo Corden
Summary: Ghost is roped in to help Lathain with an interview for an active investigation, but things take a turn for the worst when her interviewee ends up dead in her cell . . .
1. Chapter 1

Meta Human & Me

"You know you'll stand a better chance of breaking your timid streak with him if you just invite him to bed" KC's voice behind me made me jump, I turned from the window where I had been watching Whisperer get into a cab, leaving after dropping off a package for KC.

"Sorry what?" I asked, trying to appear confused, but the blush on my face giving me away in a second. KC rolled her eyes as her deft fingers unrolled her package, new bullets, special piercing rounds swiped illegally from a research facility.

"Whisperer and you" she said not looking up "Just ask him to bed already, the sexual tension between the two of you is sharp enough to cut glass" She looked up and settled her blue eyes on mine. "Come on girl, he's attractive, strong, and more than a gentleman, what's your problem?" I blushed again and hid my face behind a curtain of fire berry hair.

"I don't know, I just . . . he's nice and I do like him it's just I have . . . "

"Issues, I know" KC finished for me "Just think for a second though, he ain't exactly gonna wait forever and I doubt you'll find another person on the planet who looks at you like he does"

"He looks at me how?" I asked, at that moment the comm. unit started beeping, KC shrugged and I walked to the kitchen side to flick the old fashioned switch. The huge grin and elf ears gave Lathain away in less than a second.

"Ghost, Hey, is Whisperer still there?" He asked looking into the coms screen as if he might be able to look round corners, I frowned.

"No, he just left, why don't you grab him on his own com?"

"Oh I don't want him, I want you, but I don't want him involved, I was just checking" the elf grinned "it's a kinda dangerous mission, filled with sharp toothed evil doers and big bad guys" he waved his arms wildly for effect before his face fell to something more serious. "Actually I just want you on this, it needs a careful hand and I think you'd be better than Whisperer or KC" KC's snort could be heard coming from the sofa, Lathain ignored her

"What kind of job?"

I suppressed a shudder, I hated police stations. They were cold, barren buildings with mage shielding and an anti weapon check for incoming visitors, meaning aside from my quick feet and right hook I was utterly defenceless. But there was something else about the police I just didn't trust, all the phone calls that were ignored, all the cries for help that had been simply swept under the carpet. A little girl who had needed them and they hadn't come to rescue her. No I hated police stations and the people in them.

"Miss Xanders?" a voice called from the protected counter. I stood taking a last glance at a screen which showed Sam Arkut, the founder of Meta human and Me with a big rolling sign that said "Missing, Police search for kidnappers" and made my way over, at first not seeing anyone before a slight woman jumped aboard a tall stool. She was all of four foot nothing, older, in the region of her sixties, with dyed black hair and the yellowing features of a smoker, she had tiny eyes for her face and behind her right ear a hand rolled cigarette sat waiting for her next break. "Business?" she asked, her voice cracking with age.

"Umm, I'm here to see Chantel Manalow" I said and produced my ID. The officer nodded to the small hatch in front of me, I dutifully dropped my card inside, her wrinkled fingers pulled it up to inspect it. Her tiny eyes narrowed further then dropped it back into the hatch for me to retrieve.

"You're aware of why she is here?" The officer asked, I nodded, she was here on suspicion of kidnap of Sam Arkut, the owner of the Meta Human & Me franchise, one of the richest men n the city. "What are you? A private investigator?" I locked my gaze with her.

"Not exactly" I said honestly "I'm just here to get the facts and do a job, simple, then I'll be on my way" The officer nodded to my bag and I dropped that into the hatch. The officer pulled it out and the contents were checked for the second time since I had walked through the door.

"Anything you need from here?" she asked her eyes suspicious.

"Just the pen and paper" I said, she sneered a moment and handed me a battered note book and biro from her desk, I wasn't going to argue, I was here to see a high risk prisoner, they weren't taking any chances that I might be her to bump her off. About forty percent of all hits were done whilst a person was in custody. The officer locked my bag in a cabinet behind her desk and handed me the key. She pointed me in the direction of a young troll officer who would escort me to the cell.

The corridors were dark, lights flickering to life as we strolled beneath them, we turned a corner and beheld cell six, the door the same steel grey as the rest of the facility. The troll turned the key and mumbled my five minute time limit before pulling it open. I stepped into the doorway and froze.

Chantel was a beautiful woman, slim, well dressed in pencil skirt and red blouse, her makeup only lightly applied. Her nails were pristine and freshly manicured, her eyes were the deepest colour blue I had ever seen . . . and they were lifeless. The body of Chantel Manalow swung idly from the single lamp fitting in the centre of the room, a power chord wrapped around her slender neck.

The troll raised the alarm and pulled me from the doorway, closing the door and half guiding, half dragging me back to the front desk, stopping just before the metal gates to usher me into a locked waiting room. Two chairs, a small wooden table and a mirror were the only decorations.

"Wait here" he ordered. I nodded numbly, I had seen dead bodies before, caused a few too, but this one, this one was different. There had been no sign of a struggle in the room or on Chantel's body, her clothes were pressed neatly with few crumples, there had been no defensive wounds, to all intents and purposes she had committed suicide, her neck breaking from the drop as she had jumped from the bed. It had been her eyes, her eyes had been full of terror, my gut fell away as I realised she hadn't taken her own life. She had been murdered.

A/N: Hi guys, this is a much shorter story than previous, only about 12 chapters in total. This follows on directly from The Auction of Magic, taking place about six months after the events of Chicago. I hope you all enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

"Miss Xanders would you please stop pacing the room, you're making me feel ill" The petite officer from the front desk was stood in the doorway holding two cups of coffee, one of which she held out for me. I took it, but didn't drink it; she offered me a seat and took the one opposite. She looked tired, for the last ten minutes the station had been on complete lock down, but it had become apparent by the cool feel of Ms Manalow's skin that she had been dead a while and so the perp was most probably long gone.

"You holding me?" I asked, trying to keep the venom from my voice, but it was difficult when all I wanted to do was run away screaming. Beneath my blouse I could feel my skin heat, I carried an electric charge that sometimes needed to vent, and often without warning.

"No, I just want to talk to you, me as Agnes not as a cop" she said. This may be the usual routine, get comfortable with someone but pressure the information out of them anyway; however there was something about the cop Agnes that I couldn't quite put my finger on. She was cool, calm but surprisingly open, I was still wary of her but it didn't stop me taking the seat opposite.

"So what do you want to know?" I asked. Agnes shrugged and took a sip of coffee

"Who you're working for" she said simply, "You're obviously a private investigator of some kind, you're credentials aren't on the system unless Miss Xanders left the flight academy for policing without any formal paperwork. Your year book photo for the academy is a match so you're Miss Xanders alright, but why are you here in the city trying to talk to a dead girl?"

"I'll be faster if I'm just straight with you" I said "I'm here to talk to Miss Manalow about the attack on Sam Arkut, I've been hired privately to find him, and my client isn't convinced she was part and parcel of this; now with her murder I can be certain of that"

Agnes' eyebrows rose high "you think she was murdered? In the high security ward of the police station?" Her voice filled with disbelief. I nodded. "Well you're not much of the investigator are you then, this isn't the gang cell for the late night rabble" she muttered taking a sip; I huffed and folded my arms, leaning back in my chair and watched as Agnes rolled a cigarette.

A knock at the door and a middle aged Orc officer stuck his head through, "Bucket, you'd better come see this" he said, Agnes scowled and jumped from her chair, I rose to leave too, she stopped me.

"Where do you think you're going?" she said

"To see the video of her room" I pointed out, the Orc's face dropped in surprise; he'd be a terrible poker player. "She was murdered wasn't she" I challenged, the Orc's face crumpled then he looked to Agnes, too late, the damage done.

"Alright, you can come as an observer on this one" she said "The dragons know why but I have a feeling on this one you can be trusted" she ambled out of the room shunting the Orc aside, no small feat for a woman of her stature. She led me to a small room upstairs in the station, the smell of coffee and sugar screamed tech room, and sure enough inside spread wide over a chair too small to fit his bulging posterior was the resident tech expert, on seeing me he quickly brushed crumbs from his shirt and straightened his wonky tie, but too little too late. I hate stereotypes but I suppose if there weren't a large number of people with these traits then stereotypes wouldn't exist. He coughed to clear his throat then turned to the four large screens in front of him.

"Ah Bucket, you're here, I have something interesting you show that I managed to unravel with quite consider . . . "

"Just show me the tape Batty" Agnes snapped. Batty's voice died and he nodded, images popping up on screen, he tapped each one in turn.

"This one is Ms Manalow's room, this here is the hallway to the door, and here is the front desk" Batty said, the last screen he tapped "and this, well this is for later" Agnes rolled her eyes. Batty played the three tapes simultaneously. In her room Ms Manalow was sleeping on the tiny bunk, she had obviously been crying, and her sleeping was fitful, tossing and turning. The second screen showed officers in uniform patrolling the corridors in ones and twos, and the front desk showed people in and out, everything looked normal.

"It carries on like this for a while but then about half one Ms Manalow's room goes off line" Batty fast forwarded the camera, the cut out lasted only ten seconds, no more then switched back on, suddenly Ms Manalow was awake, bolt upright, her hand sought out beneath the mattress at the head of the bed to remove the cable she had used, quick deft fingers looped a knot which she pulled around her neck, looped it over the light standing on tip toes on the bunk. Then she jumped, the jarring of her body was instant, too low from the jump to break her neck instantly she then began to choke and strangle, her legs twitching, but she made no move to pull the chord from her throat, only her face told me that she was in any pain, then she went still and remained there, swinging silently until I stepped inside the room some hours later.

"We need to find out what happened in those ten seconds" I whispered to Agnes, she nodded solemnly.

"Ahh, you see I did that, and you're not going to like it" Batty then played the fourth screen, the picture was grainy and fuzzy, but clearly showed a hand come through the wall of Ms Manalow's cell and touch her forehead, at that moment her eyes opened and the hand withdrew, the picture then resumed from normal. "Who ever did this knew what they were doing" Batty said "They wiped the data, I had to use a special decoder to get just this crappy image" and I had my doubt the decoder he had was a legal one.

"I don't care how he wiped the tapes" Agnes said "he just put his hand through the fucking wall, what kind of magic is that?! And in a warded station?!" she seemed shaken.

"My kind of magic" I told her, she looked up at me "He's a strong mage, and I think he might have played with more than one tape" I told her, my eyes scanning the other images again. "Batty can you replay the corridor and front desk footage?" Batty looked to Agnes who nodded and replayed them. "Stop" I said, he paused the screen, "Here" I tapped the monitor at a blank space seen in the front desk image of the corner by the room "there's no one stood here in this shot, but you can see them here in this one" I pointed to the corner of the room, which should be visible from the front desk, a lone officer. "And if you look carefully here" I pointed to the fuzzy image of the hand at the wrist watch displayed on it, then pointed to the officer in the corner shot "you'll find it's the same guy, so he's played all the tapes to make it look like all is normal outside the door when he's actually been in and scouted the building"

"But why erase one tape but keep the others simply modified at this kind of level?" Agnes asked

"Well I think it's because he needed to show that he was around, I think he's played it to give himself an alibi" I said "Which means he's either still here, or he's a cop, but that watch will help you figure out who he is, the other thing to consider is that he's pushing a lot of magic into that room, not just to get in but also whatever spell was used to force Ms Manalow to kill herself. You saw the look in her eyes; her body was moving of its own accord, she couldn't control it"

"That's why she was so scared" Agnes finished, she shuddered. I didn't blame her, I couldn't think of anything else that would terrify me more than not being in control of my own body.

"That kind of magic messes with computers, he just couldn't simply out and out re-write it" Batty supplied, he seemed in awe of this guy, but the mistake of the camera shot had been a rookie one. Still he was one powerful mage, something was very wrong with this picture.

"Batty, can you get the make of the watch from those images?" I asked "Something tells me that it'll belong to someone that we're about to either find dead, or missing. "

"And what makes you say that?" Agnes asked

"Because it's a sloppy move" I said "It's a poor alibi designed to send us on the wrong chase, sadly though I think we'd better follow it through"

"Why?"

"Because we've nowhere else to start."


	3. Chapter 3

"So what info did you get?" Lathain's voice boomed through the headphones

"Not so loud, and I didn't get anything"

"What?!" I relayed the events of the afternoon to the elf who didn't sound at all pleased. "That's not good, but at least now we know she wasn't involved"

"Not that it'll help Manalow" I snapped at him "Poor price to pay for your information"

"Alright, alright; I didn't mean any harm by it" he backed down a little. "We're not having much luck on this side either, we've pegged the brother, but given the circumstances he's locked down like a brick, but to me there's something funny about all this, Miss Manalow was supposedly the only other person in the building when Meta-man disappeared, hence the investigation, but Wizbit found evidence a door had been jammed open at the back. A fire exit so it's not linked to the main system for entry. He also took a look at the vents, covers are loose, but they seem to be in bad repair throughout, so we're thinking likely point of entry"

"Want me to nip down and take a look?" I asked, Lathain shook his head.

"Not a good idea, we had a whole lotta trouble just getting in to survey the suite he owned" images popped up on the screen, fuzzy on the old comm. with upturned tables, broken glass and a whole lotta scan point markers from the crime scene unit flashed up "CSU didn't find anything to suggest who it might have been, all they know is that the only other person in the building was Miss Manalow, there's door records which put her own suite opening, elevator up to Arkut's floor, and his door opening, perfect timing and there's video footage from the elevator of a woman matching Manalow's description."

"Interesting, so we're to believe that a five foot four blonde is capable of taking down and dragging out the body of a six foot three muscle builder, all without marking her fresh manicure?" I snorted "I thought she was supposed to be a suspect?"

"She is, we're to believe she let in the people who did it since she's got one of Arkut's key cards for his suite" he shot me a grin "besides, you could take him out easily I bet"

I shook my head "take him out yes, carry him out, no chance" I thought a moment "She had a key card?" I asked, great to know these things from the beginning, then the answer became clear "They were lovers" I guessed

"Not according to the bedroom, but then no-one has yet been to Miss Manalow's except for a cursory glance" Lathain's face disappeared for a moment then returned "Wizbit says there's a lot of magic energy in the room, but there's no record to suggest Arkut or anyone associated with him was a mage"

"Well I might have some info on that for him, I'll ask Batty and Bucket to send the video images from the cell over to Wizbit's coms, I'm gonna do some astral tracking, see if I can't find the guy responsible for taking out Miss Manalow, I'm also gonna check out the watch owner with Bucket later."

"Bucket?"

"Don't ask, and if you ever meet her, don't you _dare_ laugh" Lathain gave me assurances that he wouldn't, he and Wizbit were going to check out the vents for evidence, then take a good look around Miss Manalow's apartment suite.

"You're sure a strange investigator" Agnes noted as I walked the exterior of the building, I gave a none committal grunt as I counted my paces until I was directly outside Manalow's room. "You don't use a comm. device, which I take means you're a mage, but even weak mage's use them so I doubt they affect your magic in any adverse way" Agnes kept on watching me as my eyes shifted to the silver glow which indicated astral sight. "And your credentials aren't exactly for investigatory purposes, but your S.I.M is intact so you're not an imposter, or if you are, you're a damn good one" Agnes peered up at me through her squinted eyes.

"Why Bucket?" I asked, changing the conversation, my eyes were picking up a lot of activity on the wall all over the building, that would be the counter spell measures which enabled mage's to be held without the use of their magic. The wards were old and had been topped up and re-enforced dozens of times and so were pretty strong. I had to look carefully to see if there was anything out of the ordinary.

"Just my size" Agnes said "Only my team get away with calling me Bucket though" she warned me, I smiled at her and pointed to a small area of wall.

"This part here looks a little worn, kind of like a coat of paint where you're a bit streaky" I tried to explain "This is probably where he punched through" I took a deep breath and pulled out of my sight. I rolled up my sleeve ignoring the pointed stares of the officer as she took in my scars "Do me a favour" I told Agnes "if my hand comes off take me to Claremont surgery" A gamble that the officer wouldn't twig me as a runner, but I figured at this point there was only one way to check the defences of the wall. I channelled all my magical energy into a steady flow over my arm, my forehead broke out in a fine sheen of sweat from the effort of it, slowly I pushed my hand into the resisting barrier of the wall, inch by slow excruciating inch my fingers delved deeper into the wall, after a few seconds I withdrew quickly, dropping the spell and panting heavily.

"How did you do that?" Agnes asked, mouth open, I took a moment to compose myself

"With a shit load of magic" I told her "Your hit man is a heck of a powerful mage, which means he's for hire" I sat unceremoniously on the grass where I sat feeling a slight wave of nausea.

"Which means there's a money trail to follow" Agnes said smiling "Well done kid, I'm actually impressed"

"Wow, thanks Agnes" I said sarcastically, holding up a hand "Help me off my ass?"

"Certainly" the old pint size hauled me up with surprising ease "and call me Bucket" I couldn't help but smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Bucket was busy chasing down the financial records of everyone associated with Arkut, the rest of the force were out still looking for him, which left me with tracking down the guy who owned the watch. According to Batty the watch was some swish top end Rolex which no one on the force would be able to afford, which ruled out the man walking round in uniform as one of the guys, Bucket was visibly pleased with this. The Rolex was only one of three ever made, one of which was bought by Markus Auraleous Clark who lived here in Detroit.

The guy was a business man working in the fresh fruit trade, high prices, low cost workers meant he was rich, filthy rich; and as most guys with his rep he was a sleaze. There had been several accusations of indecent behaviour with girls below the age of sixteen, though not surprisingly none had ever gone to court, and he had been involved in a missing persons enquiry, his girlfriend who was still missing, though he had been cleared of any charges of wrong doing after it was revealed that five million had been removed by said girlfriend just hours before disappearing, it had been put down to a snatch and run. There was no information to determine if Mr Clark was a mage or not, I'd have to find that out myself.

The Clark residence was in the upper quarter of Denver, I felt quite out of place in the tidy clean streets with its huge windows, extravagant shops and flash cars driving past. I ignored the snobbish upturned noses as I passed by, my jeans and simple T were obviously from lower credit shops and therefore I was to be regarded as a lower being. I hated high society and the way it looked down on others, my parents had been very much the outcasts of the higher classes for associating with Orcs and Trolls rather than the beautiful elfish folk, and had run many campaigns to give equal rights to all Meta human types. Now I was the outcast from it all, not that I missed it.

The receptionist comm'd her boss who insisted on being shown my image on his screen, apparently the way to get an audience with a serial womaniser was not by request but by looking the part. Usually I would complain about a leering man's gaze as he devoured my form stood before him, but as it was the only reason he had agreed to speak with me I bit my tongue.

"You're a little young to be playing detective Miss Xanders" Clark drawled offering me a glass of something that looked like wine.

"I'm just helping out on an investigation which I'm sorry to say you've become a part of" I said taking the glass but not drinking, I did however take the seat that he offered me. A sharp suited elf in the corner watched our every move, a lawyer no doubt.

"So the receptionist mentioned" he sounded genuinely surprised "Well I can assure you I've kept myself out of trouble" he held up his hands in mock surrender, the bright flash of gold on his wrist signified the Rolex watch, safe in it's place.

"Can I ask sir; do you or any of your immediate colleagues on today's premises use magic?" The old man laughed and shook his head, the elf stepped forward typing into a small palm pad which he held for me to view.

"These are all the registered mages on the premises at the moment" he informed me. I looked at the tiny screen, careful not to touch it and saw a schematic of the building, four red dots showed across the building, one in the high floor, at first I presumed it was me, but then realised that we were two floors above, with my magic being unstable I didn't always appear on such sensors, and three others moved throughout the premises, below were three case files.

"You have a registered trace on each employee?" I asked, the elf nodded "And these three files below to your personnel?" a second nod. "How do you detect them and identify them?" I asked

"The trace is wired into their clothing so their identity is known, movements are noted through our astral sensing grid throughout the building, that way if they loose or dispose of their name badges we still know where they are" The elf informed me, waiting for me to be impressed by the heightened warding, I pointed to his screen.

"So this fourth dot here on the floors below us . . . who's he then?" The elf looked at the screen, back to me then stepped away speaking quietly into his com unit. The intruder from the station was here and making his way down the building. "Sir, if you'll excuse me" I ran from the room, meeting a security guard in the doorway "You, with me, I need you to show me where he is" The guard didn't falter but followed my steps, my voice of authority making his decision automatic, he gave me directions as we chased behind the blip on the coms unit. Then suddenly the blip went off screen.

"He's in the ventilation shafts" the guard told me, "other than the CEO office it's the only place there are no sensors" _Just like at the apartment_ , I thought.

"Alright, get me to the last location then I'll need a leg up" the guard raised an eyebrow but did as he was told. The grate in the wall slid aside easily, obviously recently tampered with. As instructed I was given a boost by the guard and snaked quickly into the confines of the vent. I switched to astral sight and saw the faint curve of energy left behind by the mage, a neat trick Wizbit had taught me recently. I followed as quickly as I was able in the tight spaces. Lucky for me I was used to this environment and made quick progress, the trail steadily getting stronger. I dipped into a crawl space between levels, brushed the hair from my face to be presented with a gun barrel. _Crap._

"You're tenacious I'll give you that" A Texan drawl whispered above me, "but it wont help you"

"I'd put that down if I were you" I warned, not really meaning the threat, but trying to make it sound as convincing as possible. "You've no idea who you're playing with" I lifted my gaze to a surprisingly old man; nimbly he dropped down to my level, twisting to keep the gun at my face as he dropped.

"And you do?" he asked me with a quiet laugh "I don't think you do"

"What have you got against Clark and who hired you to kill Miss Manalow?" I asked; I could feel the familiar charge of electricity building within me as it usually did whenever I got tense. The old man smiled.

"Right to the point I see, well I see no harm in telling you that yes I was hired to kill Miss Manalow, but as a professional its part of my policy not to disclose the identity of my clients" he said "As for Clark . . ." he ran his tongue over his left canine as if enjoying a moment from a hunt "He failed to pay me for services previously rendered" he held up his wrist with the expensive Rolex "We'll call this even" he said with a smile . . .

But if this guy had the original watch then that mean the one on Clark's wrist . . . I turned to leave, the click of a hammer being pulled back made me pause. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked. "I'd stay put if I were you"

"Tell me something before you kill me" I said turning back to look the man right in the eye "because we both know you _are_ going to kill me" the smile grew on the man's face "Was it Clark's Girlfriend you murdered for him?"

"Very perceptive, yes indeed" the man seemed to relish the reminder of a job well done "That and the few dozen or so girls I visited to ensure they kept their mouths shut"

"And Arkut?" I asked "is he dead too?" The man laughed

"Sorry child, I was just the delivery man for that, but I'm afraid you're looking at the wrong person, a man of my skill has many admirers of his work"

"Ahh" I said, feeling the charge build higher "Thanks for that, it'll be most useful" I released the spell, lightning whipped and coursed through the vent's metal walls and rippled over the mage in front of me. Unknowing of the attack the mage had little defence to stop it, dodging in a vent is impossible and I felt a burn to my shoulder as his fingers reflexed closed on the trigger. This guy was strong and I would be outmatched, _no time to hang around_. His eyes glared at me in defiance as his body shook and he watched as I fell through the floor to land in an empty corridor below, my body passing straight through the ceiling. I ran to the nearest door; frightening the poor woman making coffee behind it.

"You need to Com Clark's office right now!" I shouted, "tell him to take his watch off and get it away from the building" The woman nodded in terror and quickly sent the comm. as I hit the fire alarm button for the building. Not a minute later the guard had caught up with me and we raced to the higher floors, passing the swift moving lawyer on the way.

"Did you get him?" he asked pausing but for a moment to take in the bloody shoulder and smoke from my lightning singed clothes, I shook my head and he carried on down the stairs. Clark was soon to follow and after checking he'd left the watch behind I escorted him outside to the waiting police cars. No sooner had we escaped the building that the office on the top floor exploded into a ball of flames. Fire crews got to work immediately and more arriving officers calmed the workers and started their roll call. Bucket met me with Clark.

"Well Miss Xanders" Clark said "it seems I owe you my life" he said with a charming smile, I glared at him and guided him into the back of Bucket's police car, pausing momentarily to slap his hands in Bucket's cuffs.

"Sorry but no, you don't. I just stopped the hit man blowing you up" I said "But I did get a nice confession out of him for his dealings with your ex-girlfriend's disappearance, and several cases of abuse to young women" Clark's eyes went wide "next time, pay your bill" I slammed the door shut, Clark banging hopelessly against the bullet proof window, Bucket raised an eyebrow.

"You gonna let me know what happened here?" she asked, so I filled her in on Clark's connection, not in Miss Manalow's murder, but that he'd used the same hit man who was out for a little pay back after his last payment check had bounced. Inside the police car Clark raved on "I don't think he realises there is a camera in there" she said "He's confessing everything"

"Still don't know where Arkut is being kept though" I said "and I don't fancy running into that guy again"

"Bit intense was he?" Bucket asked, I shuddered

"Way more than I'm comfortable with" I told her "That guy scares the crap out of me, he was happy to tell me everything because he thought he had the upper hand, he underestimated me this time, but if we cross paths again he'll not give me a chance to retaliate" Agnes raised her brow at that. "I know" I told her "unusual to admit a weakness"

"On the contrary" Bucket said popping her faded cigarette into her mouth "It's a smart thing indeed to know when to quit" she lit her cigarette and took a drag which was all but obliterated it in one take; I'd never seen anyone smoke as quickly as that before, must be nerves.

"So we know he's a professional hit man, we know he was hired by Clark and by someone else in relation to Arkut's disappearance and he admitted to me in the vents that he was "the delivery boy" for the whole affair; that tells me two things, Arkut is probably alive and my colleagues are wasting their time trying to find clues in the apartment, this guy doesn't want to leave us with any info. There's just one thing I can't put my finger on"

"The watch?" Bucket guessed, I nodded

"Exactly, I mean he's a professional, knows what he's doing, knows that wearing that watch would bring us to the old owner, and I doubt its for the sake of locking him up over a pay dispute since it wont be long until accounts find out who this guy is and how much he was paid and some bank account number that we can't trace etc., etc. . . " I trailed off "Unless he's worked for our Arkut man before and is getting his own back on him too?" I thought aloud

"So you think he's taken a job in order to get the opportunity to screw his boss over for a previous job hit he did in the past?" Bucket asked "After this demonstration it wouldn't be a far out hypothesis" Her tiny fingers deftly rolled a thin cigarette which she inhaled in a single draw once again. "It's almost like he wanted us to stop him though, giving us the clue abut the watch . . ."

"Has Arkut ever had any dealings with the police before, any near misses?" I asked, Bucket shook her head as she rolled a cigarette to place behind her ear, then paused, hand lingering on the cigarette tip "Let me guess" I said "the brother?"

"Indeed" Bucket looked at me sideways a moment "just what kind of mage are you?" she asked

"What do you mean?"

"Well Clark's lawyer told me they had three mage on staff, and then there was a fourth blip, your assassin creep" she said

"And?"

"And no other sign of a mage in the building" she said, "You're a mage are you not?"

"Sort of" I said

"Sort of?"

"I'm not like everyone else" I told her "I wish I could tell you why I'm different, but I don't know myself exactly" I admitted "but I don't always show up on the radar, comes in handy, besides the CEO office supposedly isn't covered"

"I bet"


	5. Chapter 5

"Ghost, I hear you had an explosive afternoon" Lathain's face filled the whole screen.

"Sadly yes I did, how goes the search on your end?" I asked; the elf's ears dropped in disappointment.

"Not well I'm afraid" he said "Wizbit is trying to astrally track some weird signature in the vents , but he's having a hard time getting around up there, Miss Manalow's apartment doesn't show any sign of foul play, not even in the bedroom. Where are you at?"

"Well I can help you out and tell Wizbit not to bother trying to trace the signature; it's from the hit man from the station. I can also tell you that you're probably right about the brother Gregory being involved" Lathain's ears pricked up at this. "Bucket's brought up his file, the brother's had some shady dealings in the past involving loan sharks, bad gambling debts, one of which went south and cost him two broken legs" Lathain nodded and gave me a look which told me he knew all about this. "He was also involved but cleared of all charges for the rape of a young woman, turned up in court that the woman was a prostitute and had fallen on hard times and it was presented to the court that she had seduced the millionaire's brother to get a good pay-out"

"And you think Gregory hired our hit man to keep her quiet about it?" Lathain guessed

"Maybe, I think more it's that a key witness disappeared off the radar during the middle of the trial, I think THAT is what our hit man was for. Gregory has also been implicated in the disappearance of a few young women in the past, but nothing concrete was ever brought to the table, merely speculation. After this point Arkut wrote his brother out of being heir to the company in the event of his death and since then Gregory's played the model citizen"

"Did Arkut write him back in?" Lathain asked

"No idea, I'm thinking you could have a word with Arkut's lawyer and find out for me"

"And what's your next move?" Lathain asked

"I'm going to have a word with Gregory himself" I said with a smile "Bucket is pulling up Gregory's financials to see if any large pay-outs were made around the times the problems seemed to disappear, see if there's any kind of connection; doubt they'll find any actual account number or traceable money transfer, but voids are just as incriminating"

"Be careful" Lathain warned me "And if Whisperer calls you then I haven't spoken to you"

"Wait what?" but the elf had already logged off, damn elf, what was he playing at now? I switched off the comm. my credit stick depleted of twenty nuyen for the privilege of the public call box, no wonder no one used these things anymore at that rate. I sighed and scribbled down a few notes about the apartment being clean and the vents being used. No surprises there but still if I had everything written down it may help me out later. I stared down at my pad, now a scribbled mess of lines of names and connections, mostly to do with my hit man, but now Gregory Arkut had taken up his own page too, with various dates, names of girls, mob bosses he'd had a run in with, he seemed such the shady character it was a big wonder as to why the police hadn't yet pulled him in for questioning. I scribbled lawyer in red pen and circled it, he probably had a good one to have kept him out of the interrogation room by now.

I was tired now, what had started as a simple interview had turned into a full on investigative chase; I was smart but I doubted I had the smarts to cover all bases like a real detective; though Bucket thought well of me so I suppose I wasn't doing too badly. I sighed and sat back on a park bench letting the last of the day's light fall on my face, warming me a little, I closed my eyes in a moment of relaxation before the next long haul.

A shadow passed over and I opened my eyes, hand already on the knife handle at my back. The cool blue eyes of Whisperer looked down at me behind his thick rimmed glasses.

"Hey, I didn't think I'd find you so easily" he said with a slight smile "Didn't peg you as the sunbathing type" I blushed hugely and moved aside for him to take a seat beside me "Lathain told me about the job and I wondered if you needed any help" he said. Lathain had told me not to mention it to Whisperer so this was a trick question.

"Job?" I asked "You mean can I get hold of some more of Torrin's baked goods for him?" strictly not lying since Lathain was always requesting more of Torrin's sweet home coking, and had this very morning expressed an interest once again. Whisperer looked at me sideways a moment.

"The Arkut case, you're helping him out" he added, his face flinched a moment and I felt the rise and fall of magic in him. Whisperer had the ability to coerce through magical means, to draw out the truth in people, with me however he dare not use such tricks, the last time he had it had ended with a pistol aimed at his face, he was obviously struggling to keep the magic at bay; so many years of it had meant it happened as a matter of course and it was harder to prevent the natural cast than it was to create it.

"Why do you ask?" I had to know what Lathain was playing at

"Because he's a very dangerous man Ghost" he said "Too dangerous for anyone to go against him on their own, and Lathain's past dealings with this guy means he can't get within a mile of him without tripping off the guy's private army, so he'd have to send someone else, he'd have to send you" So Lathain had a past with this guy? Interesting and it riled me slightly that he hadn't mentioned this. "I'm worried that if you go in there not knowing who you're dealing with it'll end badly for you, and if Gregory Arkut knows you're associated with the Storm then you could be in a lot of danger" he sighed and turned his face away, but I caught the concern he was trying to hide.

"So why are you here?" I asked "Weren't you suppose to be looking for your next card to swear in?" The change in subject made him focus a little more, one of these days I'd have to get into his head

"Turns out he's in Detroit on a job" he said "So I'm more likely to find him by sticking around here, I've arranged to meet him later, he'll comm. me a place when he's finished his job"

"What job? Don't you give the jobs out now?" I asked, Whisperer shook his head

"Not with this guy, he's an affiliate but he's also a private hit man, so he can take any job so long as it doesn't conflict with the affiliate's needs" I felt my stomach fall through

"He wouldn't be about six four, kinda wiry build, old, like in his sixties old would he?" not really caring I'd given the game away, Whisperer frowned giving me all the confirmation I needed "You'll probably find he's long gone by now, he just took out the top floor of Clark & Co lawyer firm and I've got it on good authority that he's responsible for kidnapping Arkut, he was just the means of course for getting Arkut out of there, but he knows where he was dropped off and I'd like to know where"

Whisperer sighed heavily and shunted his glasses further up his nose "You're right in the middle of this aren't you?" he asked "which means you can't get out, you wont leave it be till its finished with" he looked at me, the slight half smile returning to his face again "You know that's one of the things I admire most about you" he stood and looked about him a moment. "I'll get you your info on where Arkut was taken, just don't go to Greg on your own" he pleaded with me "You might be made to disappear"

"Sorry but I'm going" I told him "And I'm going alone, as initially intended" I stood to face his blue eyes with my green ones "I'll call you when I'm done" I turned to go, a hand grabbed at my arm, firm but not rough, I didn't turn back to look at him and the hand fell away slowly

"Be careful" he whispered

"Always am"


	6. Chapter 6

I went back to the apartment to change before seeing Gregory Arkut, something plain, simple and easy to move in, just in case. I traded in my trendy jeans for worn soft ones, old enough to have softened and gave me plenty of freedom of movement, but still looked new enough that I wouldn't be classed as a scruff and be denied access. A long sleeve jersey in green was next. I debated tying up my hair to keep it from catching anything, but I looked more approachable when it was down. Instead I opted for a band around my wrist, just in case I needed it later.

KC watched me get ready with an amused expression "Either you're still hung up from this morning or you saw Whisperer again today" she said, surprised I asked what made her think so, "Well for one you've checked your hair about five times since you got in, which you never do when you know he's outta town and you keep brushing our lips with your fingers, again another trait when ever he's been around you for more than a Nano second" I hadn't realised these small acts were giving me away, I'd have to keep an eye on them "I swear just tell him already, he's a nice guy, if you tell him to wait he will do, but he needs to know there's something to wait for" I mumbled that I'd get round to it eventually and packed a small hand bag.

Women's handbags are still ever much to me the weirdest things, they're usually too small to fit anything in but a cred stick and a tube of lipstick, and were usually adorned with something sparkly or flashy, or jingly that would have thieves and other monsters of the night just itching to follow the sound straight to you. Better still each glittery handbag was usually accompanied by an equally glittery pair of overly high shoes. To me that was just advertising free crime since most mugged women never look their attackers in the face. Sadly on this occasion a handbag would be required to make myself look less intimidating, I sighed heavily as I pondered what to put in the bag, fifteen minutes passed before I gave up and sought KC's help who instructed that a tube of lipstick and a cred stick were all I needed; KC of course dutifully supplied me with a stick of lip gloss which wouldn't look too brash with my pale features, I applied a little, enough to make it seem I needed it, but not too much that it looked like I didn't know how to wear it.

"What about boots?" KC asked "I've some heeled ones which you could still run in" my head spun, the whole point of changing was to look less intimidating, now I was starting to feel like I was expected to seduce the guy, heels, lipstick, handbag; now I felt overwhelmed, I nodded and tried the boots which were surprisingly comfy and did indeed keep my footing much like my flats. "Maybe a slinkier top?" KC asked I shook my head, firstly I didn't own one, and second I wasn't going on a date with this guy, I was interviewing him.

"Lets just keep it simple shall we, where's the recorder?" KC handed me a small mic recorder, about the size of my lip gloss, I threw that into the handbag too.

"Aren't you going to take a comm. unit?" KC asked "I know Lathain would prefer it if he kept tabs on you just in case you went missing" I shook my head "Damn it Ghost" she sounded tired "You need to stop being scared all the time and I don't just mean with the comm. unit, open up a little girl" she pleaded with me, I sighed, weary of this conversation. I picked up my keys and left the apartment.

Damn it, why did she have to be right all the time? I shuddered and pulled my arms close to myself, if only I had more strength to say what I wanted. KC knew I had a past and that my Step Father had abused me, I had told her when we first met six months ago, but even if I hadn't she'd have found out after she moved in. The nightmares, the screams, I was broken and I doubted that would change anytime soon

"Hey, you're crying" A voice behind me said and Whisperer stepped out of the shadows like a spirit as if he had been made of the darkness. I hastily brushed the tears away unaware I had been crying. "What's wrong?" he asked "I was just about to meet up with the hit man but he's not far from here so figured I'd swing by and see how you were, you looked pretty pissed at me earlier" he pushed stray strands of hair from my face, the familiar smell of leather and cinnamon lingered on him.

"I was just thinking of my step father" I told him

"Why? He can't hurt you" Whisperer's voice dropped, soothing he brushed another tear that threatened to fall. I nodded numbly, surprised and a little ashamed that he would see me like this. I decided to change the subject.

"So what's your plan after seeing the hit man?" I asked, he shrugged

"Well I'll see if there's anything useful, but after that I'm heading out of town for a bit, there are rumours of bug spirits in outer Denver, so I'm gonna chase that up" he said

"You mean like Chicago?" I asked, he nodded, and I shuddered "I hate bugs"

"Me too, but we'll see where this goes, I take it you're going to see Gregory Arkut?" I nodded, he gave me his trademark half smile "In that case be careful, and send me a comm. when everything is finished so I know you're safe" He locked his blue eyes on mine for a moment and looked about to say something else, I hadn't realised but he'd stepped closer and now we were but a hair breadth apart, blood flushed to my cheeks.

"Whisperer?" I asked, my lips so close to his, I felt my breathing hitch in my throat, did I tell him how I felt? Did I close that gap and be the strong person? His fingers moved to the nape of my neck and drew up into the berry red strands there, his skin was hot and I longed to close that gap.

Just then a nearby gate closed loudly making me jump and breaking the moment as I glanced around nervously, when I drew my attention back to Whisperer he was a foot away from me, thumbs hooked into his belt loops. Too late once again.

"Be careful Ghost, I'll see you soon okay?" and with that he walked away. I let out a breath I didn't realise I'd been holding. Damn, I'd let him slip through my fingers once again. I sighed and continued walking, KC's warning, _he won't wait forever_ lingering in my head.

Gregory Arkut was a powerful man, despite his earlier misdemeanours in life he had in his latter years made moves to reclaim the fortunes he had lost in gambling. Sam had all but disinherited him from everything though looking at the paperwork, in recent times Sam had helped his brother out on some of the more solid take overs. The apartment complex before me was the very epitome of high class. The brother was making money, and he wanted to show it. I wondered how much a month such a complex cost, my tiny two bed apartment cost me more than I could really afford if I had an honest nine to five job, the great perk of being a runner was the high pay packet.

There was a smartly dressed man at a large desk in the foyer, human. He regarded me with a raised eyebrow, clearly my appearance, whilst the best I could do given my wardrobe, was still outside his expectations for the area. Still he spoke professionally and not unkindly.

"May I help you Ma'am"

"I'd like to see Mr Arkut if I may" I said flashing a smile, the deskman's smile faded.

"I'm sorry he isn't seeing any reporters at the moment"

"Well that's just fine, I'm not a reporter" I told him "I'm here to ask questions, I'm a private detective" the brow raised higher and he dialled upstairs after taking my name. "You're to go up to the fourth floor Ma'am, Mr Arkut will meet you there shortly" I gave a polite nod and made my way to the four floor, following the directions given by the desk clerk until I reached a room which was either a small private library or a very elaborate study, I couldn't quite tell the difference. There was certainly a large amount of ornate wood, huge floor to ceiling shelves crammed with books and a huge ebony desk.

I sat on one of the small leather chairs and removed my recorder placing it in full view on the table; I waited, admiring the room. Still no sign of Arkut, I stood and began to look more closely at the map on the wall, an old copy of the East India trade routes, the map date 1765, just passing time. Finally a voice floated over the room.

"Excuse my lateness Miss Xanders, I'm afraid the doctor wasn't quite done" turning my mouth fell open, in the doorway, not in a wheel chair but stood fully was a man. Sam Arkut.


	7. Chapter 7

This guy was suppose to be missing, kidnapped, and yet here he stood before me in faded fresh jeans and an expensive shirt open at the collar, barefoot he strode over with the barest hint of a limp to the large ornate desk, where he gingerly sat, his hair falling into his blue eyes which reminded me of Whisperer.

"I can see by your expression that you weren't expecting me" he said I shook my head "And yet you asked to see me?"

"Your brother" I pointed out "I actually came to speak to your brother about your disappearance" His mouth formed a silent O and he leaned back in his chair, the smell of hospital wash drifted over to me, a shadow moved in the doorway and I noticed one particularly buff guy back outside, a troll; I'd heard the Arkut's weren't big on meta humans in their personal guard and said as much.

Sam laughed "Oh heavens no, it's my brother that doesn't like them around, Michalo here has been my personal home guard since I was a boy" he waved the huge troll into the room which seemed to shrink in size in his presence. "You don't mind he stays with me do you? It's been a trying day" I shook my head

"Not at all Sir" I said, "Actually I'd prefer it, having grown up with trolls and Orcs myself I much prefer their company to that of men" I flashed Michalo a soft smile and the troll rather awkwardly tried to broaden his shoulders to make himself look more imposing. "Sir I need to ask . . ."

"Sam" he said "Call me Sam, everyone else does" he said it matter of factly, rather than the cool flirt that I had expected, then I remembered Chantel Manalow, did he know what had happened to her?"

"Sam" I corrected, "If I may can I ask what you remember about being kidnapped?"

"You and everyone else, I'll tell you exactly what I told my brother's people" he flexed his shoulders and winced a little. "I'd taken my usual meetings and gone back to my apartment, Michalo had retired for the night to see his wife and new born early on my _wanting I might add_ " he said pointedly at me as if I would have the nerve to implicate his personal guard in the attack. "Next I settled to read the latest sales reports, stupid little things like the latest women's line of shoes wasn't selling particularly well and we looked to be having a product recall on a particular type of baby bonnet which was faulty and causing some mothers a little distress, when suddenly I heard the door go, before I could even register that someone was there I was hit hard across the back of the head then was out like a light."

"And what happened next?" I scribbled on my notebook furiously, he paused a moment, thinking and lightly tapping his chin.

"You won't think me crazy Miss Xanders?" he asked, his eyes serious

"I can't tell you what I think until you tell me" I answered honestly

"It was dark, but then it was hardly going to be sunshine and roses" he mused "and I kept thinking I was near the sea since all I could smell was fish and salt water, then it's kind of fuzzy and I thought at one point I could smell blood, but couldn't feel anything, I remember that I couldn't move much at all, then I remember seeing a dragon" at this he paused waiting on my reaction, I kept my face carefully blank "A large black dragon, it was talking to me about a shipment. The dragon told me I would die tonight, and that I would ascend to take over the Meta human race, the next thing I knew I was awake in a barn in the middle of nowhere, just dumped there, no clothes, no comm. unit" he paused to watch me as I took this down.

"How did you get back?" I asked

"I have a tracer under my skin; I got out of the barn and started walking, an hour later my brother's chopper picked me up"

"The barn was an old lead lined unit which shut out the signal Miss Xanders" a voice behind me made my spine crawl; I turned my head to see Gregory Arkut move into the room on his wheelchair. The wheels silent on the plush carpet, he had with him three large human body guards, he regarded me with a cold stare of those blue eyes of his and I was struck at the contrast. The two brothers looked physically much the same, but where Sam had a softness to him and an openness his brother Gregory was all hard lines and cool ice. "Kindly remove yourself from my house, you're not invited" the three guards moved to surround the sofa I was sat upon.

"I'm interviewing Mr Arkut" I explained "I was brought into the building from reception"

"Charmed your way in like a snake I figure" Gregory snapped "Escort her outside" I stepped back and snatched my recorder from the table.

"Greg, she's just asking some questions" Sam began

"How did she even know you were here?!" Gregory shouted at his brother, "you shouldn't be out of bed, you've been through a traumatic event, your body needs to heal itself" my ears pricked up at that.

"But she's doing no harm" Sam argued back

"I only have to ask about Miss Manalow and then my report is finished" I interjected, Gregory's eyes snapped on mine so hard I could almost feel the whiplash, Sam's eyes grew worried.

"Chantel?" He asked "What about her? What's wrong?" his head moved back to his brother "Greg, what happened with Chantel?"

"Take her out of here" Gregory repeated, two pairs of large hands settled on my arms and I fought back the urge to electrocute them

"She's gone" I told Sam "Sam I'm so sorry, but she's dead" The words hit him like a hammer straight to the chest. He all but stopped breathing, his legs shaking

"Wait!" he shouted at the retreating guards, he tried to stand using the desk to support his failing legs "Tell me, tell me what happened" the guards didn't stop their march, dragging me with them, I switched my eyes to Gregory who watched me go with contempt all over his face, when I glanced back to Sam, he was no longer looking at me, but at his brother.


	8. Chapter 8

Being thrown on your ass can have a literal meaning, and it's a painful one, my jeans earning a hole in their derriere from the skid as I slid to a halt on the pavement. I wasted no time in getting up and making myself scarce. Sure enough a moment later there were sirens pulling up outside the Arkut residence. I slid into the shadows as best I could and moved on. Sam's reaction to Chantel had been genuine, and he'd been in love with her, his story about a dragon however, well that was a little hard to believe. But he was a powerful man; maybe he had a connection to one of the great dragons? I'd have to do a little digging with Lathain . . .

"Are you kidding? Hell he ain't got jack to do with dragons, he's rich sure, power that comes with being made of money, but he's not got a dragon behind him, it's kind of one of the reasons his products do so well, people kind of like the fact he's done it all on his own" Lathain's picture flickered on the monitor behind a veil of Bucket's smoke.

"You think his brother is still behind it all?" I asked him, he shrugged

"Wizbit seems to think so, as does Whisperer, which by the way I told you not to get him involved" he wagged a finger at me down the comm. "We could do with finding out where he was being held and work from there"

"How did they block his tracer?" I asked "Would lead work?"

"Usually I would say yes, however Arkut has a very special one, one which even he isn't aware of it's value, he put a lot of research into a new kind of tracer, for which he was given one as a trial and a show, nope, he would have been found, though I'm not sure if Sam knew that or not. Gregory certainly doesn't it seems. Agnes do you have his tracer ID?" Bucket nodded and typed it in, still no signal

"But he's at the apartment; it should be showing" I said "even with a normal one"

"We were given a dud ID" Bucket murmured, "we look the fools for not being able to find him whilst his brother knows his exact location, he's got to be involved"

"Gregory Arkut's people were the ones who gave the police the ID to track" Lathain said, "we need to know his actual ID number, then maybe I can trace his pattern from there"

"But I can't get near him" I complained, "Gregory see's me coming I'm a goner . . ." I trailed off "Lathain, Arkut has a body guard, one he trusts, can you get me his address?"

The elf's faced split into a huge grin "Can do"

Michalo Benedict's house was a humble one, located on the far side of the city he wasn't too far from Torrin's place, at the merger between high society and the poor dilapidated buildings. Only the BMW parked out front was a sign that anyone with wealth lived here, though the house looked spotlessly clean from the outside things were still worn; _well loved_ I believe is the term.

I walked up the narrow path through the tiny front garden which held lavenders and primroses and tapped on the door, I had only to wait a moment when a young woman answered the door, human she was dressed in a piny holding a tub of half eaten yoghurt, a child's spoon sticking from the contents, the bulge of her belly indicated she was soon to expect a second spoon to the pot.

"Good afternoon" I said, as kindly as I was able "I was wondering if Michalo was available?" the woman nodded

"He's just washing up, please do come in" she opened the door wider for me and I gratefully stepped through and followed the woman through the small hallway to the kitchen where a half troll half human toddler sat in a high chair swinging his legs and blowing raspberries. His skin was pale and his eyes rimmed with red, the tell tale signs of breed sickness, but otherwise looked happy and content. It was unusual to see a half breed child so old, most died before their first year was through.

"Michalo, a friend is here to see you" the woman turned to me "Sorry dear I didn't catch your name?"

"I didn't give it" I said Michalo came from a side room drying his hands on a towel as he went, he stopped on seeing me, eyes to his wife and child before coming back to met mine

"Miss Xanders" he said, evidently trying to keep some measure of calm at my intrusion from his voice "Can I help you in some way?"

"I was hoping to ask you a few questions, it really should only take a moment of your time; do you have a place we could talk privately?" I asked, he nodded and led the way to a small living area

"Michalo, does your guest want a cup of something?" I smiled

"I'm quite alright, thank you, I really will only be a moment or two" I told the woman

"In that case Michalo I'll leave you to finish the dishes" she winked and huffed back down the corridor"

"Sarah is a kind soul" Michalo said, both in admiration and in part a warning "Can I ask why you're here?"

"I'm sorry to intrude, but your comm. will probably be a monitored line and I need to ask you about Mr Arkut's disappearance, do you recall who gave the police Mr Arkut's I.D number?" Michalo narrowed his eyes at me a moment

"I gave the code to Gregory's lawyer who handed the number to the police, why?" I pulled a small notebook from my bag

"Is this the number you gave?"

Michalo took the pad from me and shook his head. "That is Mr Arkut's old I.D tag, he hasn't used it in several months since his bio implant was upgraded"

"Is there a way you may have given the police the wrong code?" I asked, the eyes narrowed further

"What are you implying? I gave Temsin Thack the code of Sam's current tag, downloaded straight from my comm. device, the old number hasn't been installed since it was changed, and I have a record of the transmission, now why don't you tell me what is going on?"

I took a breath "Someone fed the police the wrong information on purpose so that they couldn't find Mr Arkut, I need to find out who it is, because that person will be partly responsible for what happened to him, that man would be the lead I need to find out what happened"

"And you think that man is me?"

"Actually no, I'm looking at Gregory as my prime suspect right now" I answered honestly

"Then why question me?"

"Because I needed to know who gave the comm. number out and if it wasn't you then you might know who it was" I told him "May I borrow your comm.?"

"Why?"

"It's to help you, I promise" he held my eyes for a moment before handing me a burner comm., all guards carried one so they could communicate direct with their employers without being heard, unfortunately I hadn't had the number to the device or I would have saved him some discomfort of arriving on his doorstep. I typed in some digits and waited for the call to be answered

"This had better be good Jo" Doc's voice rang over the receiver

"Actually this is Ghost" I told her

"Ghost darling, damn you're using a comm. now? How can I help?"

"I have a friend who has a toddler, mid to late stages of breed sickness"

"What mix?"

"Troll and human" I said, Michalo's eyes remained on mine, not sure what to say at this strange conversation

"I've a serum left, and can synth more in about an hour" Doc said, I heard the tell tale drag of a cigarette "Tell your friend to come by the clinic and we'll get started"

"Thanks Doc, you might want to explain about the serum to the mother, she's expecting her second child"

"Ahhh, second children always adapt better if they're treated in the womb, better bring the mother too"

"Thanks Doc" I hung up and handed the com over. "That was a friend, a shadow runner Doctor who has a speciality in treating breed sickness" I explained "Your son is too pale and showing all the symptoms" I told him

"We were told there was no cure" Michalo said

"Tell that to Doc and her daughter who is 3 with no sign of the illness, her colleague's children have also survived the treatments, one is due to go to middle school this year" Michalo's eyes widened

"You're serious?" I nodded

"I am, your wife should go too, the serum can be integrated at the developmental stage and has better chances of success the earlier it is given, there is a small risk of diabetes as a draw back, but that is treatable in itself, about 3% of cases develop this"

"Why haven't we heard of this before?" Sarah's voice came from the doorway where she stood, her baby boy straddling her hip "We were told by the best doctors in the city that it was no use, that we would have to . . ." she trailed off, her eyes starting to water

"Doc isn't under the pay of the government" I explained, Sarah moved over to sit beside her husband, her son played with the pendant around her neck "The government policy on legalising mixed race marriages is still being debated as you're aware, if the populous knew that there was a cure for breed sickness the pressure to pass the motion would be increased, something a lot of the purists are keen to avoid."

"And what would be the cost?" Michalo asked, suddenly serious

"There is a standard charge, though it is no more expensive than a flu jab" I told him "Doc works a free clinic in the city, those that can afford to pay do, and those that can't don't have to, I would warn you though, when you get there do not lie to Doc, she will treat anyone but a liar, even the smallest white lie will get you thrown out"

"Why are you helping us?" Michalo asked, Sarah turned in shock to her husband

"Because for five years I saw a human mother lose every child she and her troll husband ever conceived, those that survived the birth died soon after, and that kind of heartache should never be wished upon anyone" I stood to go "I'll leave you with the address, I wish you luck"

I moved to go, Sarah stretched out her hand to catch my arm "Thank you, you have no idea what this means to us" I smiled, Michalo saw me to the door

"This will work?" he whispered

"I wouldn't have sent you to her if I didn't know it would work" I told him, handing him a slip with Doc's name and address "Call me on the number overleaf when you've had your appointment, let me know how it went, and if you can think of anything that I can use against Gregory Arkut"

"I will, and thank you, my wife already said as much but I thank you as well, our children are her life"

"Take care of them" I said I walked away and thought of where to take my next move.


	9. Chapter 9

"You damn well take care of yourself" Lathain said

"I will, he won't be happy to see me, but I'm hoping he'll slip up and give me something I can use to give to Bucket" I told Lathain as I headed back to Gregory Arkut's apartment.

"That cop's a menace" he grunted "I don't like her one bit" I laughed

"Only because she's as smart as you and hasn't fallen for your charming smile" I told him, "I'm just round the corner from the main apartment, I'll comm. you back from this terminal when I'm done"

If I don't hear from you in an hour I'm sending the army in after you" Lathain warned, I laughed

"Duly noted" I clicked the comm. off and made my way to the reception area, the suited man recognised me from before and my hasty exit, I told him I was here to see Gregory and he comm'd the upper floors

"You're to go straight up Miss Xanders" he said nervously "Mr Arkut is waiting for you in the lounge"

"Thank you" I entered the lift that was shown to me and waited as the numbers climbed, the soft ping told me I'd reached my destination, but when the doors opened I was greeted not with a mad man in a wheel chair, but the barrel of a pistol.

I swung to one side, the sound of the shot deafening me as it zipped past my ears, I struck out, catching my opponent in his covered face, he fell and rolled backwards, I wasted no time in pushing the button to head back down, nothing happened, a red light flashed on the elevator pad, locked.

I jumped over the man, kicking him in the face as I went and felt a snap as my foot broke his nose, I raced east down a hallway, trying to remember where I had seen stairs before, a shot rang to my right and I swerved to the nearest room, a bedroom with an en-suite, I locked the door and bolted to the bathroom, locking that behind me as well. Think Ghost, think.

The air shaft for the de-misted hummed above me, it would be tight but I might make it through, I shrugged out of my jersey, the loose material would catch and slow me down and I removed my clunky boots. I heard the sound of the bedroom door lock being shot out and I yanked the grate down and shimmied inside as quickly as I was able, I dropped down the next vent I could find, back in the corridor, round the corner from the bedroom door, as I landed a shot broke the vase behind me and I sprinted down the hall and round the next corner into what appeared to be an open kitchen, I grabbed a kitchen knife, using the blade to see round the corner, but saw no shooter, only the water from the vase drip slowly to the floor. Suddenly an arm snaked around my throat, pulling me hard backwards, surprised I dropped the knife, and clutched at the arm trying to suffocate the air from my lungs, panicked my eyes caught my reflection in the silver fronted fridge, the arm was coming straight out of the wall!

I felt my body convulse as it tried to suck in air and black dots swum in my vision, I tried to focus, to clear my mind to cast, too much of my energy now in a high charge, lighting up my scars. Just as I thought the spell would fail I felt myself falling backwards through the wall, I landed hard onto my opponent who released me, I rolled from him, coughing hard and tried to stand, I pulled air into my lungs which made me cough all the more. I heard the click of a gun and knew I had no strength to move. I levelled my eyes at the man who would kill me, I'll be damned if I wasn't staring Chantel Marlow's killer in the face.

"You're quite the talent Miss Xanders" the assassin said "I'd never thought to meet another who could phase like I can, a pretty girl too"

"Go to hell" I spat, my voice broken and hoarse "just shoot me already, or get out of my way cos I haven't got the time to be pansy footing about with you, you've already wasted my time once today"

"oooh touchy" he sneered "you know it's a shame to kill you, but the pay package is particularly fine, you've really pissed someone off to warrant my services"

"I'll take that as a compliment" I said

"See you around" the hit man pulled the trigger

The shot rang loud and the shattering sound followed, I looked down, expecting to see a pool of blood forming across my chest, nothing. I did not expect what came next

"I'd lower the gun Travis if I were you" a voice I knew, but did not expect called out down the corridor.

"You're quite the shot Joker" the hit man, Travis said "honestly you broke my favourite gun"

"Bill me" Whisperer stalked down the corridor, his long coat brushing the sides as he went, he looked the angel of death, his jaw set, eyes hard and cold, fixed on Travis "your contract on this woman is cancelled, you're not to take any relating to her or other members of the affiliate without first relaying all information to me"

"Relaying information on my hits?" Travis sneered, as if the expression was the only one he knew "that's against my profession, clients expect confidentiality"

"And they'll get it, I wont pass on the information, but if your hits are against affiliate activities it'll be best to take my advice on your acceptance criteria" Whisperer stood in front of Travis, though slightly shorter than the assassin Whisperer seemed to have the greater presence. Travis looked down at me.

"And the fee?" he asked

"Paid in full" Whisperer said " _If_ you tell me where you took Sam Arkut after you incapacitated him"

"I'll ping you the co-ordinates" Travis said, he gave me a thoughtful look "you know Miss Xanders, I do hope we meet again sometime under more . . . pleasurable circumstances" I held my tongue "Now, it seems I've been given my leave, good day to you Joker, Miss Xanders" with that he left, strolling down the corridor without a care in the world.

"You alright?" Whisperer asked, giving me a hand to get to my feet, I nodded and was presented with Whisperer's long coat, I looked down to see my upper body was covered only by my bra after dumping my top to escape, I burned crimson and took the coat, I wandered into the bathroom to find my T had gone "I'll order him to return it" Whisperer said, I shook my head

"Tell him to burn it" I said, I shuddered at the idea of the hit man having a trophy and tried not to think of what other items he had acquired, the watch, my T shirt, was he a collector? They were the worst kind of people, those who killed because they took pleasure in it, rather than out of necessity.

Whisperer removed his shirt, allowing me a look at his toned muscled pressed against the cotton of his undershirt "You might find this a tad more comfortable and a little less cumbersome" he was right, the coat hung to the floor on my frame and was very heavy, he draped the shirt over the bath side and left so I had the privacy to put it on.

The cotton smelled of leather and cinnamon, the smell of Whisperer, strength and spices it made me feel comforted. I washed my face and checked my throat in the mirror, had Whisperer not been here I would have most certainly been killed. Gregory Arkut it seems had it in for me, I untangled the knots in my hair and used some floss as a makeshift cotton thread to pull in the sides of Whisperer's shirt, it might be more comfortable, but a very baggy shirt could be just as cumbersome.

"Wow, it suits you" Whisperer said as I left the bathroom, I gave him back his coat which he swung over his shoulders. I blushed and hid my face behind a curtain of hair

"We should go, no doubt there'll be cops on the way over any minute" I said, Whisperer took the hint and led the way "Did you get the coordinates from Travis?" I asked

"Yeah, he was taken to shack just out of town" he looked across at me "You should go home; you've had a long day"

"Don't I know it" I said, "but no, I'll see this through" Whisperer smiled

"That's what Lathain said you'd say, come on, I'll go with you"

"Don't you have Affiliate things to do?" I asked

"Yes, but I can take a break for two hours to check this out with you, you really should go home, so unless you're planning on getting some shut eye then you're stuck with me" he smiled and I knew he had me, he wasn't going to let me out of his sight until he was convinced I was up to full strength.


	10. Chapter 10

We stopped by a Meta human and me store to grab fresh clothes on the way, Whisperer had a car, a light and sporty model which felt heavier than it should as it swerved the corner of the city blocks; I took this as a sign there was something heavier and deadlier under the hood.

The shack was a good hour's drive out of town, towards the old mining area, the mines had been copper mines and had been one of the reasons Detroit was originally built in the region. There was a small hamlet way out with an old fashioned gas station, it's pumps now dry, with "Closed" signs hanging in the dusty windows. Whisperer pulled up alongside the old pump and got out, it was hot out here and I fanned myself with my note pad to keep cool.

"Looks like we're in the right area" Whisperer said "there's a small warehouse behind the station, used to use it for meat and fish storage when the hamlet had people living here" he looked over the station grounds, taking particular attention to the small path leading round back. "there's been some activity here" he said pointing to the dirt track "there are tracks" he walked over and brushed the dirt with his fingers "fresh, no more than a day old" he said "Wide wheel base, kind of like a Humvee"

"Where were you when I was stuck in the amazon?" I asked partly amazed, I'd never been very good at tracking, sure I could tell when there were things out of place, and I had a good eye for prints, but I never could get the hang of tracking by the hour, that it had been so many days since the last visit of a creature, that it had rained within the last month, it was all a puzzle I couldn't get my head round.

"What were you doing in the Amazon?" Whisperer asked

"Getting my butt singed and liberating an oppressed city" I said

"Of course you were . . ." he murmured, drawing a pistol from a holster on his back "Someone is here" he said

We made our way to the back of the station towards a small unit "Wayne's Fish Yard" swung on a sign in the slight breeze.

"This has got to be the place" I said "Sam said he thought he was by the sea because of the smell of fish"

"Did you say something about a dragon too?" Whisperer asked, I nodded "let's hope it's not around"

We snuck around the side of the building, the smell of fish was strong, and something else . . . clinical, one I recognised from Doc's clinic, medical alcohol, but why have medical alcohol in a place like this? There was no way in other than a set of double doors, the windows were blacked out and we could see nothing. Whisperer used a small blade to check the underside of the door, it was locked from the inside, a figure could be seen moving around, bulky, but it was too dim to tell if it was muscle or fat.

"We could knock the door down?" he whispered, I looked at him with a slight smile and stepped sideways through the wall and into the building, just catching the look of his surprised face as I slid into the darkness. The building inside was lit only by three spot lights, all over a small metal medical table, over which a plump figure in a powder blue lab coat stood, I couldn't see what was on the table, the light tin of music told me the worker was wearing earphones, the slight shuffling of his slipper donned feet as he conducted light jigs confirmed this, he probably couldn't hear me but if I opened the door to let Whisperer in he might see the change in light levels. I slid back outside through the wall; Whisperer shook his head at me.

"I still don't know how you do that" he said, "scares the crap out of me every time" I smiled, then he was going to hate my suggestion.

"I can get you in, but we'll have to do it my way" I said, his face visibly dropped and I explained what I had seen. He looked sick

"Are you strong enough to pull us both through?" he asked, I quirked an eyebrow, half in amusement at his nervousness, half in indignation that he would suggest I couldn't pull it off, he sighed softly and ran his hand through his hair, the dark strands falling in his face again regardless. "What do I need to do?"

"Keep your magic low" I told him, "if you're nervous then your magic will interrupt mine, then step sideways whilst I do, don't try and resist, don't think of it as a wall, more like an open door"

"What if I can't think about anything else?"

"then you'll get stuck, wholly or in part, whatever part of your body is stuck will be fused with the wall and you'll be in a _lot_ of pain, you'll have approximately fifteen seconds to re-cast or the shock alone will kill you" he looked even paler, but his mouth was set in a grim determination

"Have you ever done this before?" he asked "I mean, taken someone with you?" I thought back to Chicago where I'd dragged Convoy through a wall to escape a hail of bullets. It had been easier back then, Convoy didn't know what was happening, his mind on the gunfire, and not on the cast, he was also not a mage with no opposing magical energy . . . mind not on the cast . . .

"Not exactly" I told him. I put a hand on one arm and looked him dead in the eyes "ready?" he took a breath and nodded. I place my other hand on his cheek, the slight shadow of his beard felt rough on my hands, I felt the heat creep to my face as I leaned in and let the magic build, I felt the rise of his own magic, felt the tensing of his muscles as he fought to keep the energy down, the play of his magic over my skin like electricity, I closed my eyes and placed my lips to his, the surprise of my action made him jump beneath my hand, then the tension melted away as he responded with his own kiss, his hands snaking up around my back and into my hair to pull me closer to him.

I cast the spell and stepped sideways, pulling him with me.

On the other side he broke off the kiss slowly, as if savouring it, his arousal was evident and he immediately flushed crimson as he realised I'd started the kiss to distract him, it amused me to see a grown man blush like he did.

"Some distraction" he whispered, his voice hoarse, husky. I fought off the urge to continue, the sound of the worker humming to his latest tune snapped me from my thoughts

I turned to the room and pulled a blade from my belt buckle, a memory blade, pliant and material until released, I took a moment to remember the train I had acquired it, when I had first met Whisperer. . .

"Where did you pick that up?" Whisperer enquired, curious, memory blades were rare and horrendously expensive.

"Bad guy" I murmured, ignoring him to take in the inside of the warehouse. I saw nothing beyond the lights, but heard no one else, I slid away from the heat of Whisperer's body and slinked around the edges, careful of my footing, ordinarily I would cast invisibility, but two passes through the wall had drained me of a fair amount of magic, I already felt light headed, my senses a little dull. Whisperer started to walk the opposite wall, not quite the sure footedness he usually held, the nausea affecting him too it seemed.

My already delicate stomach fell away when I got closer to the table, on it lay a woman, face down on the table, the nape of her neck open and exposed, her black hair pushed crudely to one side, pulsing in the opening was a creature, purple and slimy, it grasped and coiled around the woman's spinal cord, and it looked distressed.

A comm. unit rang out, the worker paused and the music was cut off

"What?" he snapped, visibly irate at the interruption "no, I tell you, it no work yet" the accent was thick, Italian "he no work with the creature, woman you bring me no good either, not strong enough for the _bambina_ " he moved away from the table and pulled away his gloves. "no, no you give me bad peoples you get bad merchandise, the shipment needs good hosts to live" he ground his teeth "shipment comes in tomorrow, the little bambinas need host by day after next" another pause then the worker blurted out a string of words which sounded much like profanities "bambinas listen to strong men only, they no listen then you no strong leader" there was an audible click as he broke the comm. link, he grumbled to himself before turning back to the bench to survey his work, I heard the trigger of a gun hammer and saw Whisperer step out of the shadows, the worker froze and turned, his face frightened, clearly he hadn't been expecting anything like this

"Is she alive?" Whisperer asked, nodding to the woman on the table, the frightened man shook his head, he was old, grey, his teeth yellow

"She no strong" he said "Bambina need strong host" he said, his voice shaking, he raised his hands to his head in submission "Mister Arkut tell me I do good job" he said "Not my fault the cattle are bad, he want to control cattle then he needs strong cattle"

"Gregory Arkut?" Whisperer asked

Understanding dawned on the worker too late that he'd said too much, he turned to try and run, tripping over his own feet and landing heavily, he cried out as he hit the floor, as he tried to crawl away he favoured his left side; his right ankle seemed to swell before my eyes. Whisperer walked over and placed a boot on the guy's back pinning him in place.

"You'll answer my questions" Whisperer told him, the feeling of magic swept out over him and surrounded the struggling worker, few men had the power to resist Whisperer's magic, and this man was no different. He started to cry and babble in his own tongue, Whisperer changed tack and shot questions in the same language, I used the distraction to check on the woman, she was indeed dead. The creature wrapped around her neck waved out a purple tentacle as if to search for a new host, I stepped back and shuddered.

"Ghost" Whisperer called me over "the tattoo" the sobbing worker had lost a shoe as he had crawled away, his feet bare showed a dragon tattoo across the top of his now swollen foot "there's your dragon" he said, his head snapped towards the door

"Down!" he shouted, grabbing me and rolling me under him as the door blasted open, we rolled towards the nearest wall, Whisperer let out a shot with his gun, gunfire erupted around us, cutting up the table, the woman and the screaming worker. Arkut was cleaning up the mess. "Can you cast?" Whisperer asked as we dodged behind a barrel of salt.

"Barely" I said surveying the wall "we need to get out of here"

"Take my comm. unit, get it to Lathain" Whisperer said pulling a small recorder from his belt "he needs to stop that shipment, it's more of those things" he said, he popped off a few more shots and reloaded with one hand, the move practised and efficient "I'll hold them off"

"Better idea" I said grabbing him by the waist and surging my magic, I used the element of surprise and all my force to throw him round, the spell cast as he hit the wall and rolled through it "you tell him" I had no way of communicating to Lathain, where Whisperer did, the gun fire ceased and men spread out "I'm coming out!" I called out, "I give up!" I raised my hands over my head and stepped gingerly from my hidden corner, four rifle barrels bore down on me, behind them I recognised one of Gregory Arkut's body guards, I wasn't guessing any more.

The body guard lowered his rifle and stepped over to me, a look of utter contempt crossed his face before he grinned evilly and punched me in the face, there was a momentary flash of pain before the lights went out.


	11. Chapter 11

When I woke up my face felt like it was on fire, there was also a pressure on my side, someone or _something_ pressed against me, I shot up, wide awake, but dizzy.

"Woah, take it easy, careful you'll fall over" a voice I recognised could be heard and the pressure at my side shifted "Stay where you are a second, it's not safe for you to move too much"

I blinked to clear my head and eyes, the face of Sam Arkut, pale and bloodied looked down into mine, and I shook my head to clear it further and looked about myself.

I was perched on a small bench in a room, no scratch that, a cell, the door was a barred gate, my legs had been pulled up onto the bench and Sam was stood on the bench beside me . . .

"What are you doing here?" I asked

"It's a long story" I tried to sit up fully, and started to swing my legs out "wait!" he hissed "don't touch the floor". Confused I looked over the rim of the bench, a purple slimy tentacle crawled around on the floor "it came out of my neck" Sam said shuddering "I think it's looking for a new body, it tried to get to the dogs but it can't get over the kick plate of the door" I looked over at the door, sure enough two brutish dogs sat, shaking and whining, scared of the creature on the floor, but loyal enough to maintain the command to stay put.

"Stuff this" I said and pulled some magic together, I shot out a lightning bolt at the creature which fried instantly, the tentacle flailing uncontrolled as it burnt. The smell was gag inducing and I got off the table to kick it to a corner, throwing the blanket from the make shift bench over it to stifle some of the smell. I stretched out and felt my bones pop, I must have been laid out for some time.

I took a longer look around the room, a single corridor led away from the door. The room had but one light on a single short cord, no windows, there was no sound other than the soft whine of the dogs and Sam's heavy breathing, no traffic, no trains, so we were probably underground. There was a plate with bread scraps on it and a hunk of protein flakes, there was a lot of blood on the floor, Sam's pale face and blooded neck told me the creature had indeed come from there.

"Are you hurt?" he asked

I gingerly felt my face with my fingertips; a swollen but not broken nose greeted my exploration. Other than that I appeared to be fine, I turned my back to Sam and lifted my hair

"Do I have an incision?" I asked, Sam strained to see as he wouldn't come closer

"No, but you have a scar, it looks old though" good, I wasn't infected.

"Then no I'm not hurt" I told him "you don't look so good"

"A _thing_ just came out of my _neck_ " he stressed, fair point I suppose, I moved to the door, the two dogs bared their teeth and growled but it was half hearted. I whistled to them, one walked over and sat by the gate and let me scratch his ears. His fur was black and short, it was also horrendously hot, the red eyes literally burned with fire and when he growled as I stopped fussing him his teeth were bright white and poured out heat. "He's a hell hound" Sam said "We used to have them to guard our factories"

"He's massive" I said "and soft as butter"

"That was the problem with them, in their own land they are really territorial, but they tend to bond with people more than places, sucks to be the one on the receiving end of one of them if you attack it's master, but you can trash their home and they'll just watch, they're still a good deterrent though, no one wants to mess with them being so big and fierce looking"

The dog's companion feeling left out from the fuss came over and I spent a few moments stroking and petting each one.

"So do you want to tell me how you ended up in here?" I asked

"Turns out it was my brother who ordered my kidnapping" Sam said in disgust "after all I did for him, paid for his rehab, helped pay off his debts, gave him a job, he just wanted to control me, get me out of the way" he sounded tired, as if he'd known this was the truth all along and hadn't wanted to admit it to himself. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this"

"I have a habit of getting involved" I told him "I'm used to it"

The sound of gunfire erupted down the corridor, smoke and shouting soon followed

"What's going on?" Sam sounded worried; the two dogs at the gate turned their heads to the sound and started to growl

"Sounds like the cavalry" I said with a smile, in front of me a key floated towards the door, the curling smoke betraying the steps of a man under invisibility. "You took your time Wizbit" I said with a grin

"Bite me" came the reply, ouch he was touchy, he dropped the spell and the form of Wizbit appeared in front of me, blood stained his shirt and his lip was bust up pretty bad "Damn Ghost you look like shit"

"Love you too" I sneered and stepped out of the cell "you coming Sam?" I asked

"Where are we going?"

"Home" I said, a wet nose pressed against my hand and I looked to the red eyes of the two dogs "you really are useless guard dogs" I said, I patted my thigh and they fell into step beside me.

"Torrin will be pissed if you take home another stray dog" Wizbit said as we walked down the corridor, he handed me a small knife "figured you could use this"

"Are you calling me a stray dog?" KC's voice could be heard over the gun fire and she walked from the smoke towards us, gun up and ready "get your ass out of here, the cops are coming in and we've got five minutes to get out or we'll be caught up in it all" she turned to look me over "Wow girl, you look like shit" I scowled

"Thanks, that's just what I needed to hear" I told her, a clatter at our feet had us looking down at a small grenade. I grabbed Sam and flung him back down the corridor, hitting the deck, the blast went off and I heard KC call out in pain. "KC!" I called "you O.K?"

"Peachy" came the reply "get off me you fat lump" I looked up in time to see her shove one of the dogs from her lap, the animal's side was open and he was bleeding hard, the other was whining and limping "trying to get yourself killed" she grumbled, the dog had either been in the right place or had deliberately shielded KC, sadly though it looked like the open side was too much and he fell to the floor breathing heavily. KC blasted some shots down the corridor and laid a hand briefly on it's heaving flanks "thanks mate" she whispered. She stood and fired some more shots down the corridor. Wizbit, grab the poodle would you?" she said, nodding to the second dog, "Ghost you're walking him, and if he slobbers on my stuff he's out" she stalked off in a huff down the corridor firing off rounds as she went.

Wizbit looked at me open mouthed "what just happened?" he asked

"KC adopted a dog" I said, as surprised as Wizbit. The mage hefted the whining lump of dog over his shoulder

"Seriously?" he asked "he's really bloody heavy"

"Do you want to tell KC no?" I asked, Wizbit shook his head "then let's go" We followed KC up the corridor, her pace quick we had to run to catch up, I kept Sam by me, we rounded a corner and ended up in Lathain's face.

"Quick, we got less than two minutes" he said "our man only has a few more shots in him"

"Our man?" I asked, but was shunted up the stairs and out of a fire exit into a side street, I had no idea where we were, but followed KC out to a pick up van and shunted Sam inside

"Nope, he stays" KC said pulling Sam back out "the authorities are going to need to talk to him, you and the mutt get in"

"I don't understand" Sam began

"Shush sexy, you'll hear it all in the end, now go stay over there like a good kidnapped millionaire" she cooed. Just then Lathain burst out of the doors, a masked figure close behind

"Everyone in and away, the fuzz is here" sure enough the blue flashing lights could be seen and a second later a cop car swung around the corner down our alley way, it swerved right past us and stopped by the fire escape. A thud on the roof of the van made me jump out of my skin. Whisperer swung into the side door and landed neatly beside Wizbit.

"Let's go" Lathain banged on the caging between the van interior and the driver's seat and closed the door. The wheels spun and we lurched out of the alley way, leaving Sam Arkut to be picked up, dazed and confused by the cops.

"Wait a second, why aren't they following us?" I asked as another cop car drove around us towards the scene

"Bucket said we had ten minutes to get you out, after that we would be classed as conspirators in the whole thing" Lathain said, I had to laugh, the pint sized cop was a legend.

"Are you OK?" Whisperer asked me, he was covered in dust and flex that looked like ceiling tile; one hand was crudely wrapped in a bandage

"I'm O.K" I told him "what happened to you?" he laughed

"Someone didn't check the drop on the other side of the wall" he told me "You're lucky you didn't throw me out three feet to the left, I'd have dropped sixty foot straight down" a snort from Lathain gave the impression that I _should_ have dropped him over the edge.

I looked about the van and spotted the masked guy, he pulled off the mask to reveal Travis, I shuddered "you owe me one now Joker" he said to Whisperer, Whisperer simply shrugged, I got the impression he'd take care of it all later.


	12. Chapter 12

It was a few days before I felt myself again, adrenaline had made me miss the shoulder burns from the guns fire, and whilst my nose hadn't been broken it was pretty beat up. Whisperer had stayed only long enough to see that I was alright before disappearing, so much for breaking my timid streak, the look on KC's face told me she was annoyed he hadn't stuck around.

The dog was now sprawled across our living room floor, the light clink of metal as he shifted in his sleep, Doc had given him a prosthetic leg, his own had been badly damaged in the blast. KC suggested calling him Captain Fluff, but we settled on Kaden instead. Mei-Juu the moin was already curled up on the huge dog's flanks, probably because he was like a radiator.

Wizbit was busy with KC sorting out some new pistol rounds, adapted from the ones Whisperer had brought her a few days ago, Lathain just lazed on the chair in the lounge eating cookies that Torrin had dropped off earlier as a "All's well" gift.

As for the Arkut family? The news was rife with the story of the younger brother, thirsty for the fortune his older brother had spent his life creating, Gregory had been in league with a cult in the east who were sending out creatures which could supposedly be controlled by him. Gregory was going to use this creature to take control of his brother, write himself back in the will then cause his brother to meet a grizzly end. The drama portrayed by the elven news host was quite captivating and it was sprawled across the matrix for weeks to follow.

Sam however was doing fine, but mourning the loss of Chantel Manalow, he was holding a public funeral for her, as she had no family, and was donating half his estate to her favoured charity in her memory. A decent guy, clueless, but decent.

"So Ghost" KC asked when everyone else had gone home for the night, I was on my way to bed, sleepy and still sore from my exploits, my head full of the last few days, and the kiss, KC's blue eyes battered at me innocently "When are you going to ask Whisperer out?"

I rolled my eyes

"Good night KC"

 **A/N:** Hi guys, thanks for reading this short story. It started out as a bit of a laugh whilst waiting for the others to trun up the session, they never arrived though I forget why, as a result this focused more around what my character was doing (hence Lathain only really appearing on the screen to start with)

The next big campaign is being written (well, tweaked) and for this we switched games masters, it let to some interesting developments for the character of Ghost. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as i have writing it

As usual let me know your thoughts and thanks for reading

XXX


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